210 APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS 



grow into bunches or tufts, they reveal their gray bases and pinkish tips, thus giv- 

 ing to the pelage a mottled appearance. The bushy tail is of a decidedly pink tint, 

 more especially for the first third of its length. The hands and feet are reddish. 



There are, however, great variations of color among different individuals of the 

 avahi, inhabiting even the same district ; some having the pelage almost uniformly 

 reddish, while in others all the parts above the thighs are nearly pure white. 



According to Messrs. Milne-Edwards and Grandidier, the avahis, instead of liv- 

 ing in small troops like the indris and sifakas, are found either solitary or in pairs. 

 They are completely nocturnal, sleeping during the day curled up in the fork of a 

 branch, and issuing forth in search of food with the falling shades of evening. Like 

 their allies, they are sluggish in their movements, and but seldom descend to the 

 ground ; and, when they do so, they walk in the same peculiar manner as the sifakas. 



The avahis are found in two parallel bands of forest on the east side of 

 Madagascar, and also in the woods of a small area on the northwest. They are, 

 however, totally unknown on the west and south coasts, where the vegetation and 

 climate are totally different. The members of the colony on the northwest coast 

 are of smaller size and somewhat different coloration from those on the east side of 

 the island. From their smaller size and nocturnal habits, the avahis are less noticed 

 by the natives of Madagascar than are the other members of this group, and do not 

 figure conspicuously either in their legends or in their superstitions. The name 

 avahi is the one by which they are known to the Antanala tribe. By other tribes 

 they are, however, termed Ampongi, Fotsi-fe, or Fotsi-afaka ; the two latter terms 

 respectively meaning "white legs" or "white fork," in allusion to the peculiar 

 coloration of the hinder parts of these animals. 



THE TRUE LEMURS 

 Genus Lemur 



With the true lemurs, which are likewise confined to the island of Madagascar, 

 we come to the first of a group differing in several respects from those already 



noticed. The first and most 

 easily recognized feature by 

 which the true lemurs and their 

 allies may be distinguished 

 from the group containing the 

 indri and the avahi, is that 

 the toes of the foot are not 

 connected at their bases by a 

 A B web. In none of those ani- 



HEADS OF COMMON (A) AND SMOOTH-EARED (B) BLACK mals are the legs so long in 

 LEMUR. proportion to the arms as we 



(From Sclater, List of Animals in Zool. Gardens.) 



have seen to be the case in the 



members of the preceding group ; while the whole of them have long tails. Then 

 again it may be mentioned that the members of this group are distinguished by 



